Shapes and Sizes

My family has always come in different combinations... it was funny trying to piece together all the combos during our Christmas dinner, and we still didn't get them all!

We celebrated Thursday with our families and it was a wonderful meal (pat, pat) and just a really nice day with family.

I think the kids have gotten to quadruple their Christmases this year, the grandparents brought gifts Thursday; we had our exchange on Christmas eve; then they had their Christmas on actual Christmas day with their respective parents, then this afternoon we will see what Santa brought here! Then finally, I can put Christmas away!

It was bittersweet not having our children this year for Christmas. The holiday is just so much more magical with children in the house. But after weeks of nothing but children in the house, it was hard to not enjoy the break from chaos. And we figure that next year will be more fun since life will be more settled (We've only been under one roof for just over a month). Michael and I did enjoy sleeping in, a run, lunch (albeit at the casino... it was that or IHOP), and a movie.

The Santa Sightings

My dear friend Erin had a milestone birthday this past week, and Saturday we had a "surprise" party for her. After a family chili-feed, the ladies headed downtown where we had a scrumptious cake waiting for us at Pure Bliss Desserts (which is amazing and the service and atmosphere is excellent). Afterwards, we walked over to The Temple Bar where lo and behold, the jolly old elf was having a little cocktail. I knew the holidays were stressful, but stressful enough to drive Santa to drink?!

What do you think Santa was knocking back? A Rusty Nail perhaps? It has Johnny Walker RED in it after all...
I hoofed all three kids to dinner and through the Alderwood mall all while carrying a cute-though-a-little-too-big pair of black Mary Janes for Makenzie to wear. In all the excitement guess what I forgot to do? Yup. It's like those sneakers are smirking at me, see their tongues sticking out at me (ba-dum-dum)?

At least both girls are in their sneakers this time. This is an annual event at Sound Harley and it was lots of fun (I think the kids favorite part was the free cookies and milk).


I love this picture, but wish someone would have said "woman put your hand down!" to me.

A twinge

Before I moved to Everett, Michael would often send me pictures of Mt. Baker from his point of view, and if I could see it, I'd send him a picture of Mt. Baker from mine.  It was very Fivel of us (Somewhere out there... beneath the pale moon light... Ok I'll stop).
This Friday was an especially beautiful and clear day, and Mike took a picture of Mt. Baker this afternoon and sent it to me.  Sweet, I know.

Then the girls and I headed out to run some errands and BLAM!  there was Mt. Baker.  And the tears welled up.  A little twinge of... of what?  Homesickness?  Not exactly, home is wherever Mike and the kids are.  But Whatcom County was 14 years of my life.  Or was it as simple as: 'Wow, that mountain is beautiful.  And it's Friday.  And it's sunny.  And I've got 2 sweet little girls with me'.  Or maybe it's the fact that I have 3 kids now home on Christmas break. That's enough to bring a girl to tears :)
But I actually think that I have a much better view (although farther away) of my beloved volcano from here than from Bellingham.  Just sayin'.


From the alley behind our house...

Happy Anniversary to me...

So today is my blog's 3rd anniversary. Three years of my blathering documented for the world to read... yikes. Sorry 'bout that.

I took a quick peek at some posts from 3 years ago and found one that talked about my feelings about Everett, which happens to now be my new hometown :) If you care to read about it, you can here.

So how do I feel about E-town 3 years later? Well it's only been home for a month, but we're finding a routine and the kids seem happy at school but finding playdates is difficult since I don't know anyone with 8 year old boys around here (well except for one who came over the other evening and one who occasionally lives next door but is seldom let out to play). Natalie is blessed to have a built in playmate in Boo, but even they test each others limits after a few days. There is a lot to do down here, but finding time and energy and money to do all of it is a challenge.

Oh wait, the question was how do I feel? I'm happy to be here. I have rose-colored glasses on when I think of Bellingham, but Everett is quickly growing on me. Sure, there's skeezy parts, but what city (even my beloved Bham) doesn't have 'em? I happen to love our neighborhood, and I love that I can walk 1 block and end up at the grocery store, Starbucks (ok that one is trouble), the post office... I love the downtown area, it's like Little-Big city. We went to the theatre, to the Harley store, and Mike brought home some locally made beer from Lazy Boy Brewing, that was amazingly delicious. And I just feel "right" here with Michael and our respective children. Life is finding it's balance.

Oh... and Everett has an abundance of tattoo parlors, low-rider auto-body shops, and bikini barista stands... Ok, so I couldn't get through a whole post without taking a few jabs... part of Everett's charm is it's ability to take my abuse.

P.S. Thank you Jen for encouraging and inspiring me to start a blog in the first place. Even if no one else ever reads another word, I'm sure my children will thank you for getting me to journal for them.

Exploring our surroundings

Being freshly unemployed (by choice) has it's benefits. Like I get to participate in the kids lives a whole lot more. After taking B to school, the girls and I headed out to look for what Everett has to offer us. We toured the YMCA (which is a great facility, and they have a covered outdoor track on the roof, that was so exciting!) and got lost downtown for a bit. We found the Co-Op (which is obviously not as popular here as it is in Bellingham) and got some fruit and nuts for snacking. Then we headed to the library (they have a coffee shop in the foyer, kinda awesome) for story and craft time. The girls had a lot of fun, and Natalie and I signed up for our own library cards so that we can browse the shelves next time we visit.

A double rainbow ending where Mike works...

Kids Crafts Kicked Up a Notch

I bought some jingle bells and pipe cleaners for the kids to make ornaments and gifts and to just keep them busy for a half hour.

We were making wreaths and candy canes and the kids were busy twisting pipe cleaners together making their unique creations. I asked Mike to get me some needle nose pliers so that I could twist and cut the floral wire. He looked at our craft table and said "I know how I'd be making those" and left to get the pliers.

He came back and put the "man power" (insert simian grunts here) into our Christmas ornaments. The kids much more preferred his methods over my primitive hand-twisting technique.

Sanctuary!

I had half of a loaf of bread that was slated for the trash, so instead we took it to a bird sanctuary to get out of the house for awhile. The problem was, there were 3 birds. And they weren't hungry. But it's a beautiful sanctuary and the day was not ruined by the lack of birds!

We found a little tree frog on the boardwalk...

Playing "park-bench bum"

Looking for ducks.

Using her "binoculars" to look for ducks.

Turtle hunting.

Here We Come A-Caroling

Here are the first two carols of the season being sung around here:

Natalie : O Chrissmus Tree, O Chrissmus Tree, O how your branches love me...

Makenzie: Santa Claus is coming... From town. He sees me when he's sleeping...

Meet Pickles

Pickles The Fire Cat and Pickles Our Cat had similar starts in life. Pickles came to us with an ear and eye infection (and worms of course). Someone had abandoned him in a church parking lot and a preschool teacher there rescued him (we'll call her Mrs. Goodkind). They posted an ad on Craigslist about this little kitten (with mittens) who was lost, but nobody answered.

Michael and I had been talking about getting a kitten for the kids as a "hey we all live together now" housewarming gift and playmate for Tinkerbell (the other housecat).

We thought we were getting a kitten on Thanksgiving, one with sapphire blue eyes, but apparently the owner (aka Mike's sister) was hesitant to give her up. And both of us have always liked orange kitties, so...

Michael emailed Mrs. Goodkind and we went and got Pickles. I've always wanted to name a cat Pickles, and now I've heard 3 others tell me they used to have a cat named Pickles!

Tinkerbell is starting to warm up to Pickles, but her initial reaction?

Monday through Friday

Leaving Bellingham Monday afternoon. Beautiful. Serene.
30 minutes later, just north of Stanwood... 'you're going the wrong way!' (name the movie).

5 out of 7 turkeys that were fried on Thursday in our home... guaranteed leftovers!

Kids young and old loved making gingerbread houses after dinner.

A first for everyone: The Macy's Holiday Parade. We timed it perfect and got an awesome spot on the route. A new tradition (weather permitting)?

Brady's favorite part (besides having candy thrown at him).

Trying for a Christmas card, not sure if I was successful or not. Getting 3 amped-up kids to cooperate is no small feat. Someone always seemed to be staring off in another direction or had some sort of dazed expression on their face.

Brunch at Dicks afterwards...

Promised Paparazzi

I've had a headache for most of today and spent the rest of it cleaning and/or shopping for Thanksgiving.



But I thought I should check in real quick and at least post the promised paparazzi photo from last weekend:

And one more consolation photo: "I promise mom if you buy the lucky charms we'll eat the whole box"

Upside down and inside out.

I have lots of blog posts floating around; either in draft form, or in my head, or in my photo-albums-yet-to-be-downloaded.

I just don't have the extra 5 seconds to complete a blog post right now. I hate it when my life gets so chaotic that I can't blog. Or run. Or just be.

But the time is coming when I'll be back to that place in my life where I can. I just need to catch my breath. So here is a quick update:



I am overwhelmingly in love with this man:
He's like my glasses. I can see how life can be, should be, and now is.

I am in the process of moving my entire 14 year Bellingham life to Everett (about an hour south). And as much as I love Bellingham (and I love Bellingham, it is the city of subdued excitement after all), it just doesn't compare to time spent with Michael and our combined children.

So, I am in the process of making a life in Everett, and tying up the loose ends of my life in Bellingham (but by no means cutting my ties) and getting ready for the holidays, and it seems my time is at a premium right now.

But I did find some time this weekend to participate in the Winter Pineapple Classic benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Photos will be posted soon, I promise. And I got a super papparazzi photo on the way home from the race. I can't wait to share.

Winter Pineapple Classic

Before I sit down and download the Halloween pictures (the kids made out like bandits... I may or may not have stolen all of their blow pops) I need to put a desperate plea on here for my next adventure:

The Winter Pineapple Classic benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! It's a team 5k team run with obstacles that I joined yesterday; which means I have 10 days to meet my fundraising goal. So if you have a few dollars you could put in my coconut I would be so grateful! Click HERE to donate please!

Headed to the Outback

No, not the restaurant, the Outback Kangaroo Farm! I took a long lunch on Friday and met Natalie and her school at the farm in Arlington for the tour. Brady got to go this summer as part of the YMCA daycamp and had so much fun, so I was excited to get to tag along with Little Miss.
Her school is studying birds right now, so really we were at the Kangaroo farm to see their birds (they have a lot of different birds: Emu's, an Ostrich, a turkey, peacocks and pea hens...)
I was surprised that we got to be IN with the Kangaroos and Wallaby's. I mean... don't they kick and punch?
Everyone had fun, and we stopped at a park for lunch which happened to be Bum-Skeezo park. I hate that when you're in an unfamiliar city and you end up in a place that the locals wouldn't go near. Ever. And by the time the adults and given each other "the look" the kids had already poured out of the vans and plunked their lunches down next to the bums and were sprawled all over the playground. So we kind of shrugged our shoulders and chalked it up to lesson learned: do not take your children to Haller Park.

Mr. Donkey enjoying a nibble.

Little Miss getting brave enough to pet the Kangaroo, they're velvety like a bunny, but bony.

Giving a Kangaroo a nibble of bread.

And lovin on a Wallaby. **Sigh** Natalie's dimples kill me. I love them.

In the pockets of little boys

I have been fortunate enough to not reach in and regret what I find... Brady's pockets usually contain folded up pieces of paper, mini-flashlights, ipods, marbles... and pencils. But there was something about this pencil that made me giggle.

Asking for Trouble

I think he's blurry enough that I don't feel too guilty for posting his smug little face. You know, since he's a minor and all... but then I also think 'hey paparazzi always snap pic's of famous peoples children and I buy the magazines, so it's not illegal for me to post this obscure photo of this neighborhood punk, right?' So this kid... I've had one run-in with him before regarding a beach ball that went over the fence that he tried to steal but I played it off like "hey thanks for grabbing my kids' beach ball, go ahead and toss it back over to me" and he was like "yeah...ummm...right. OK."

But tonight I didn't want to play so nice. He was mouthing off to my lovely friend Erin who asked him to stop bending the prongs of our fence down because no, he will not be climbing over it as a shortcut to his house. He continued to mouth off to her and continued to bend the prongs down in her face. So I came out and asked him "Would you like to stop now or would you like me to call the police?" since he couldn't seem to stop vandalizing and mouthing off on his own. That stopped him quick, but not permanently.

Soon he was back at the fence, standing and staring at Erin and I. Really? We're supposed to be intimidated by a chubby 12 year old? We ignored him. Then he started tugging on the fence. We ignored him. He started touching the prongs again, not bending them, just touching them. We continued to ignore him, but this time I pulled my phone out and snapped his picture and made sure he saw me do it. He tried to duck down real quick but I let him no he was a little slow on the uptake and I got a lovely photo of him. When he popped his head up he had his hood on, and then he walked home (using the public sidewalks! What a concept!) and when he walked past me he pulled his hoodie up again. I don't think he likes me.

So tomorrow when I post about how I have to buy 4 new tires for my van because they mysteriously all went flat overnight, or how my house was TP'ed or how my cute little Halloween decoration on my front porch went missing, you'll know who I'm gonna blame.

Lesson of the day? I have to deal with my kids being mouthy and defiant all day long and I have to deal with them because I'm their mom. I'm not this kids mom, therefore I don't have to put up with his shit. And my shit-toleration is kind of in short supply these days.